To be able to face crises

Assem Al Abed

Tackling the several crises Jordan is facing cannot be relayed anymore to the next government, a customary practice in recent history. Challenges must be met head on, and the best way to do it is by mobilizing all the potential of the Jordanian community, which is immense and promising.

Jordan has a history of survival. During its evolution, it witnessed all sorts of crises, and every time it emerged stronger than before.

Decision makers, the elite, should suggest who can join efforts and come up with solutions to the challenges, rather than speculate on the time remaining to the incumbent government in power. But the situation, as it appears, is depressing.

The very members of the elite needed to solve the country’s problems, including the so-called technocrats, are absorbed in gossip, rumor spreading, distortion of facts and character assassination. Their goal in life seems to be showing that officials are self-centered, ruthless people who only work to further their own interests and not those of the public.

The last thing Jordan needs is gossip salons. What it really needs is a series of workshops, not retreats, where every concerned and useful individual can help find answers to the challenges and crises at hand.

His Majesty King Abdullah relentlessly works to guarantee a decent life for each and every Jordanian. On the drawing board, there are projects worth $30 billion he is toiling to translate into facts on the ground. Such being the situation, the country needs a makeover of its political laws, especially those concerned with elections and public assemblies, and the legislation governing women’s rights.

Poverty and unemployment need to be appropriately addressed and the inferiority complex that comes with certain jobs eliminated. The issue of public debt, which has expanded due to growing borrowing, needs to be tackled with deeper insight. A solution to the increasingly alarming water shortage has to be found and towards that end, the Disi Water Conveyance and the Red-Dead Canal projects need to be implemented as soon as possible.

The elite should contribute to finding solutions to an array of other challenging issues, including the swine flu, which is assuming endemic proportions worldwide and will not spare Jordan, although for the time being, it is being handled skillfully to the credit of the ministries of health and education who were transparent in approaching the problem.

Well-drafted legislation to prevent the recurrence of fraud like that at the hands of some brokerage firms, which depleted much of the savings of 30,000 Jordanian households, is also needed.

Regional challenges cannot be ignored either.

The government has done well to improve ties with Syria and Iraq, because only alignments of this kind can eventually solve the problems facing the region. Sixty years into the Middle East crisis, we find ourselves face to face with an extremist, racist government in Israel that shows no respect whatsoever for international legitimacy, resolutions and conventions.

We need to align with neighbors to protect the holy shrines in Jerusalem and Palestinians, in the West Bank, Gaza and the 1948 Palestine. We, as Jordanians, and our regional partners should be ready for the bloody storm the King warned against, which would push the entire region into darkness unless we assume responsibility.



*Published in Jordan's THE JORDAN TIMES on October 29, 2009.The writer is a media consultant.